Chapter 26: Criminal Evidence

June 7 Noon

After the graduation ceremony I took Abril to the apartment building instead of the mansion, it was her choice. Just before we arrived she mentioned her “Greek” had hinted at a surprise coming on Sunday, and because of her nature Abril could not wait.

To counter what was coming I mentioned that she had been fantastic last night at the social. I also said her teasing was getting to be too much for me, which was what she liked to hear, but she also knew it was true. It was around Noon when I got Abril there and we went to our rooms.

She was in my apartment five minutes later, frantic and sobbing that her gold was stolen and her dear friends were both kidnapped and might be tortured at that moment.

I said nothing like this had ever happened in the building, I hit a silent alarm and called the security staff for “all hands on deck” to find out what happened ASAP. I also put our strike teams on alert, to pursue any lead we might uncover.

Our security guys found things quickly, I got an initial report in less than 10 minutes. The pictures did not leave much doubt, it was so much better than anything I considered staging.

After a half hour I got Abril calmed down to a level where she could stand to look at the tapes, the boys had pieced together the whole sequence quickly. She saw herself leave the room for work Friday morning. Then a few minutes later she saw her friends leave under their own power with heavy loads. The timing and the heavy backpacks said enough. That was when the bitch named REALITY connected with a combo of a gut punch and a kick in the teeth, causing Abril to fall to the floor sobbing. I was there to hold her, I let her cry into my expensive shirt. When she recovered she also watched them every step to the garage, and as the car left moments later. Martha almost ran down a kid in her hurry to leave the garage. Abril acknowledged that in both the hallways and the garage they were moving briskly, on their own and were encumbered with heavy loads. It wasn’t the garbage or laundry, they had her family’s gold in those backpacks.

Abril’s mood went to murderous, and a little irrational.

By the middle of the afternoon my guys had checked the tapes (actually computer files on a server, but they would always be called “tapes”) for tampering and the like. My guys knew what to look for. Abril was now on track and settled down looking at knives. I called Sam and she sent one of her people over, a guy named Rex who was borderline elite at file structure stuff. He dove into the project, working with my computer staff, explaining each step of his magic as he worked the security server. I insisted that they work together, watching each other and being 100% open so nobody could tamper with the evidence.

I made one thing clear. “This is a death penalty case. You are gathering evidence. Make no mistakes.”

Maybe Rex thought I was being dramatic, he was a nerd and this was his first trip to a gang hangout. My guys explained the facts of life and death to him. There would be no cops, we were very efficient at disposing of bodies. If he didn’t like that he should leave now, it was a one-time offer.

In fact Rex was pre-disposed to join the gang - it was why Sam had him on duty - so he saw this as his way in. It was not that simple, but this case was a good start. I put Tina on him, she was a triple threat: computer skills, bedroom skills, and a very good eye.

Later that day, with my permission, my guys explained to Rex that the roommates would be caught. They would not survive long. But first, very bad things would happen to them because of what they did to Abril. Finding a pack of mad, hungry dogs was a quicker, less painful end than what I would give them.

Abril was ready to take a gun and shoot them on sight, but she knew she would regret not investigating. “We can kill them after,” I whispered to Abril. “Even if they are in jail you know I will reach them, there is always a guard for sale cheap and criminals eager for spare change.” She was good with that.